It’s raining. Huge torrential buckets coming down in sheets.
Shoot me.
Because you know what I sent ALL day doing yesterday?
Baking.

I made:
Apple Bran Muffins,
Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins
Banana Muffins with Dates and nuts
Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins
Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
Double Chocolate Mint cookies
Strawberry Jam Muffins (With homemade jam)
Chocolate Chunk Carmel Brownies
Mandarin Orange Cake



I packaged each in little servings with a pretty pink bow and identifying label.

You see, today we were having a bake sale for our breast cancer fundraiser.

I told Denver that bake sales don’t make much money for the time involved, especially considering it would be a two woman show. Usually, many people contribute to a bake sale, but if only two people are cooking, then it will be a lot of work, not to mention the cost of ingredients all coming from one kitchen for what will probably be not a huge return. But she was insistent that this was something we had to do. She said, “Not everything has to be fancy and made from scratch, Mom.”

Then she rolled her eyes as if remembering who she was taking too. I don’t cook anything that isn’t from scratch. Nevertheless she was so enthusiastic about the project, I couldn’t say no. She put pink flyers all over town, got a few friends to donate some baked goods, and called the City Hall to get permission. She bought us obnoxiously bright pink shirts that say “Cancer Sucks” to wear, and picked up balloons. What’s a mother to do? I started cooking.

One good thing is that we are setting up this bakesale on our new land in McCaysville across from the train station. This is the future home of our art gallery/coffee shop. I kind of like the idea of bringing my muffins to this place, because I’ll be establishing myself as resident gourmet baker in this very spot next year. This can be sort of a warm-up, pre-business experiment on how to present things well enough that people will want to buy them. And I’ll no doubt get to meet people who will be examples of our future customers. Fun.

Mark came into the kitchen yesterday afternoon and saw the explosion of flour, sugar and baking chocolate. He kissed me on the top of the head and said, “You are a good person.”

“Not really.” I grumbled. “At this point, I’m not baking for cancer. I’m just doing this for my daughter.”

He grinned. “I know.”

Anyway, it is 7:48 am. I’m holding out hope that the rain might stop and we can still have a soggy bake sale. If not, I don’t know what to do– perhaps I can freeze this stuff and we can try another day – only I really feel strongly that everything should to be fresh, which is why I chose to bake everything in one day.

Now, I’m settling down to make clay and glass earrings to sell too.  If you are going to bother to have a fundraiser, you might go to the trouble to do it well.

Denver leaves for her jewelry silversmith craftsmen school next week, so this is our last opportunity to work together towards our common fundraising goals. We are behind in our efforts, partially because we have four big baskets being raffled in area businesses and we haven’t picked up the earnings yet, and partially because living in this quiet town makes it mighty hard to fundraise. The dribbles coming in from friends can’t compete with corporate donations and the donations from acquaintances that people in the work force can pursue. And the little businesses around here can’t give much. We are plugging away however - doing our best. (And if you are one of those friends (ahem, luckily for you,  I would never name names J.S.) who said, “I’ll give later”, there is still time. www.the3day.org/atlanta07/ginnyhendry

But rain can’t ruin a day completely. The good news is, there a constant tapping coming from my incubator that is host to my 16 assorted breeds of duck eggs. Perhaps something fun is about to occur. The eggs are due to hatch tomorrow, but after the peacock disappointment and having left to go to Florida again so I wasn’t available to tend to them; I’m not expecting much – no reason to set myself up for dissapointment. If anything does hatch, it will be a special delight.

Ah, the rain has subsided. Might turn out to be a good day after all. Hope McCaysville is hungry and that lots of tourists ride the train today, despite the weather. I will wear my Cancer Sucks shirt, but I feel inclined to take a fabric marker and write (Rain sucks too) on it underneath. See what a whiner I can be.

Wish us luck.